Grocers group fights Mamaroneck's proposed plastic bag ban

Apr. 26, 2013

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MAMARONECK — A trade association that promotes the interests of the grocery industry statewide, with about 850 members, is claiming that the town’s proposed plastic bag ban is “unconstitutional.”

The Food Industry Alliance of New York State, which represents Stop & Shop, the biggest supermarket in town, says the law, if enacted, would be pre-empted by state law, and is demanding a formal environmental review.

“A ban is the most extreme form of regulation,” said Jay Peltz, vice president of public affairs for the association. “It rests on false, exaggerated and uncorroborated claims.”

He said the ban’s supporters “oversimplify a complex environmental issue.”

The town canceled a recent public hearing on the issue. Supervisor Nancy Seligson said the Town Board needed more time to review and “fine-tune” the language of the proposed law.

As to whether an environmental impact statement was needed, the board was “still analyzing whether it is a reasonable request,” she said.

“This (the proposed law) would only have a positive environmental impact,” Seligson said.

State legislation regulating the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastic bags, enacted in 2009, requires stores larger than 10,000 square feet, or ones that are part of a chain, to accept plastic bags for recycling and offer reusable bags to customers.

The proposed law is “pre-empted because (the) state Legislature has implicitly articulated its intent to occupy the field of plastic bag regulation,” Dan Hollis, the attorney representing the trade group, wrote in a letter to the Town Board.

None of the nearby municipalities that have enacted laws banning plastic bags, including Rye, Larchmont and the Village of Mamaroneck, prepared environmental impact statements.

Peltz called the ban an “unfunded mandate” that would substantially increase the cost of doing business for the grocery stores and end up hurting the customer.

“Paper bags are triple the cost of recyclable plastic bags,” he said. “This can result in offsetting actions that hurt customers and employees, including price increases, job cuts and loss of hours.”

Seligson said the law’s goal was to encourage people to use reusable bags, not paper bags.

Elizabeth Radow, a town resident, wrote to the board that she would support a law that would encourage the use of reusable bags and would help limit “unnecessary plastic waste going to landfills and the unwelcome sight of plastic bags draped over tree branches or floating in the Long Island Sound.”

The Food Industry Alliance also opposed the Village of Southampton, which became the first New York municipality to ban plastic bags, as it considered the new law.